widows_kiss | Appointments Post

Mind? [Natasha laughs quietly at that and drops a kiss atop her daughter's head.] Not that I ever really mind shopping, but this? This is a special occasion. I'd love to. Why don't we go tomorrow after classes? Just you and me. We can find you a dress and have dinner in town and do anything else you'd like.

Really? [It erases some of the harsh lines around her grandparents' words any time Natasha is so indulgent. Which is fairly often. Rue has the sense to recognize how lucky she is, family drama aside.] Then that's what I want to do.

[Natasha grins and gives her daughter another hug.] Then that's what we'll do. It's a date.

[It was an easy agreement to give, something little and utterly worth it for the way it brightens her daughter's demeanor and banishes the last of the shadows from the evening.] Why don't we go back inside and steal some of your aunts' fashion magazines and we can figure out what you'd like to try on?

Edited 2013-08-21 21:28 (UTC)

[Aunt Katara and Auntie Kate were smart dressers. Rue looks through those same magazines at times and dreams of the day when she'll be adult enough to emulate fashions like that, perhaps as she exits the theatre after a performance.]

I don't even know where to start. Colors, I suppose. Oh, but he said he already had a suit, and I didn't ask-!

[Natasha laughed and turns Rue back towards the house, guiding her in that direction as they start to walk again.] You have time to decide on colors, and most suits complement many colors nicely. You can always ask him tomorrow about what his suit might look like, if you're worried about something not matching.

Mother! [Her cheeks are very red all of a sudden.] I can barely talk to him about ordinary things!

Well, a suit color doesn't count as an ordinary thing? [Natasha can't help but tease her daughter a little, amused at the sudden flush of color in her cheeks.] Is he so intimidating?

No, of course not. Actually, he's...he's kindhearted, I think, in an absentminded way. [And he seemed just as nervous about asking her, now that she can remember some of how that happened.] Some of the lower class boys bully him.

[Her expression turned sympathetic at that.] Bullies comes in all shapes and sizes, I fear. Class often serves as an excuse for it, going either way. If that's the case, he may appreciate someone to converse with simply, even if it's over something as mundane as a suit.

[Almost every conversation the boy has is simple. It's as if he doesn't care at all about status or parentage or any of the things her grandmother slips into conversations about the weather.]

I don't understand them at all. All I know is that he...he said he wanted to dance with me.

[That is the thing she's holding onto like an heirloom.]

And he will. [Natasha agreed with a faint smile, her hand warm against her daughter's back.] And I'm sure you're just as eager to dance with him, if your expression is anything to go by.

Oh. Am I being too overt about it?

You're allowed to be excited for this, you know. [Natasha couldn't help but tease her daughter a little over it.] You should have seen me when I was asked to my first dance. I could barely sit still. Your aunts have never been much better.

Really? Was it...was it my father, who asked you?

[Information about him, who he was, always felt like dangerous territory for some reason. That hardly ever stops Rue from trying.]

[Natasha hesitates for a moment, mind automatically reaching for a memory but stuttering over a strange sort of emptiness where it should be instead. Rue's father, the cause of her own scandal years ago, a closely guarded secret even now. But one she couldn't seem to put a face to at the moment. Or any more information than the barest facts that she could call to mind as easy knowledge.

It sent a sudden chill of unease down her spine.

Natasha shook her head, a puzzled frown on her lips for a moment as she pushed the uncomfortable thoughts away, troubled.] No, sweet. I'm afraid not.

Oh. [That was, for better or worse, some kind of relief for Rue. To think that she might find the same kind of love as her mother must have had, only to lose it the way she did...well. It was unsettling, to say the least.] That's all right. Who was it, then?

[Natasha's lips quirked at the question and she pushed the troubling thoughts away for the time being, focused on a memory she could pull to mind.]

A classmate of mine, and a friend. He was very popular. All the girls were hoping to get asked to the dance by him.

But you were the lucky one he chose. [Rue is proud. Proud that her mother won the catty competition, of sorts.] I can't imagine what Grandmother said.

Oh, she called him a scoundrel. [Natasha snickered at that, looking a little amused.] Mostly because he was. But she still managed to be pleased by it, despite everything. I was just excited I wasn't stuck going to the dance with someone boring.

You don't think- [There was even a gasp beforehand, another horror crossing Rue's nervous mind.] You don't think he'll find me boring, do you?

[Natasha blinked, then laughed.] No, sweet. I don't think he will find you boring at all. You both seem to have much in common in your interests. Just don't let your nerves get the best of you, hmm?

I-I'm not nervous! [What a sorry defense.] Not the bad way. At least I know how to dance.

Yes, you do. You're a beautiful dancer. Maybe start with that. It's hard to be nervous when you're dancing, hmm? [Natasha advised with a faint smile, brushing her hand against her daughter's hair.]

I used to be nervous about performing. [Of course, at that age her performances were more about being an adorable little girl and less about being a skilled ballerina.] This is a different kind of dance, though.

[Which, at the insistence of her grandparents (Rue really didn't mind) and their assurances that proper young ladies should know how to conduct themselves at a formal dance, she has also taken lessons for.]

Yes, but that was a while ago. [She knew her daughter. She knew how she danced. And it was easy to tell that these days when Rue danced she was fully immersed in the experience, not being jittery with nerves.] And it is, but you are as familiar with these steps as you are with others. They're not so difficult.

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untrueheart - 2013-09-07 15:17 (UTC) - Expand